A voter turnout of 76.2% was recorded in the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, which is the highest in the state’s history, officials said. Polling was held for all 230 constituencies in a single phase on Friday last. Seoni district in east MP recorded the highest voter turnout of 85.68%, while the tribal dominated Alirajpur in the western region saw the lowest voter turnout of 60.1%, officials said. The second highest voter turnout of 85.23% was recorded in the Naxalites-hit Balaghat district in the western region sharing a border with Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, indicating that ballots prevailed over bullets as Maoists discouraged people from voting and put roadblocks in the election process.
75% turnout in Chhattisgarh 2nd phase
Chhattisgarh recorded a turn out of 75% in Phase-II of the assembly elections, notching up an overall average of 76.3%, a shade lower than the 2018 polling of 76.4%. Polling was quite subdued in urban areas, but electrifying in the rural belt. What it means for the parties in the fray, especially governing Congress and main opposition BJP, will be learnt on December 3. The EC released revised figures for both phases and declared the average turnout to be 76.3%.
In Madhya Pradesh, it was 67.25 per cent in 2003, 69.78 per cent in 2008, 72.13 per cent in 2013 and 75.63 per cent in 2018. In 2018, the Bharatiya Janata Party received 41.02 per cent votes, the Congress 40.89 per cent, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and other parties got 10.83 per cent votes.
Even after getting more vote share than the Congress, the BJP won 109 seats in 2018 compared to 114 bagged by the grand old party. The remaining seats went to the BSP (2), Samajwadi Party (1) and independents (4). The Congress had then formed government with the help of the BSP, SP and independents under the leadership of Kamal Nath.
However, the Kamal Nath led government collapsed in March 2020 after a rebellion by Jyotiraditya Scindia and MLAs loyal to him, paving the way for return of the BJP government headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
In the state elections held on Friday, the fate of 2,533 candidates, including CM Chouhan of the BJP and his predecessor and state Congress chief Kamal Nath, has been sealed in the Electronic Voting Machines.
A total of 64,626 polling stations were set up in the state. Votes will be counted on December 3.